Colorado Cannabis Chamber of Commerce president Tyler Henson’s comments on marijuana edibles are confounding. Did Coloradans ever imagine the marijuana industry Henson represents would manufacture or infuse hundreds of regular foods, candies and sodas to make them indistinguishable from the products many mimic?

The state law requiring that marijuana edibles be clearly identifiable outside their packaging was passed with the overwhelming support of legislators, parents, school officials and kids. There was broad consensus that all Coloradans have the right to know if they are consuming marijuana.

If Coloradans can’t differentiate marijuana edibles purchased legally from those produced and sold on the street, what was the purpose of legalizing marijuana in the first place?

Why does the marijuana industry continue to fight against this most basic public health protection, which reputable food and beverage manufacturers implement in a cost-effective way? When will protecting Colorado children and citizens come first, rather than last?

Henny Lasley,Greenwood Village

The writer is co-founder of Smart Colorado.

This letter was published in the April 12 edition.

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Marijuana enthusiasts celebrate last Sunday in Denver’s Civic Center. This year’s 4/20 rally, which is held annually in Civic Center, was the first since recreational pot became legal in Colorado. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)

Thank you to John Ingold of The Denver Post for accurately reporting a growing concern of the impact of public marijuana events and displays of pot use.

Based on local and national reactions, it appears that the 4/20 Easter Sunday public displays of “tens of thousands” of adults smoking marijuana at Civic Center and Red Rocks Amphitheatre, promoting and glorifying marijuana use, were embarrassments to Denver and Colorado.

It’s not rocket science to realize that young, impressionistic children will be influenced in a negative way, short- and long-term.

Gina Carbone, spokeswoman for Smart Colorado, hit the nail on the head: “This does not send the right message. … We’re not educating our kids to the harms of it (marijuana). Instead, we’re glorifying it and promoting it.”

William A. Matheson, Denver

This letter was published in the April 27 edition.

I disagree that legalizing pot encourages young people to smoke, and I applaud the Denver Police Department’s efforts to keep the use of marijuana contained to the boundaries of the 4/20 festival in Civic Center. The celebration was regulated, just like any other festival, with gated areas and police protection.

I remember many St. Patrick’s Day festivals where you could walk on the streets with open cans of Guinness or other alcoholic beverages — just so long as you didn’t leave the premises of the festival. Why should pot be treated any differently?

I was born and raised in Denver and I voted to legalize marijuana. I no longer live in Denver, and I don’t run to a local dispensary to buy pot every time I visit. I have never smoked marijuana, and I never will, but that doesn’t mean it should be illegal for someone else.

Regarding the clouds of marijuana on 4/20, Jeremy Meyer writes that “the laws that specifically forbid [public pot smoking] were not … enforced. And that is how it should be.” And recently, the state of Colorado said it will no longer enforce pot plant limits on “medical marijuana” growers.

What we have now is a total repudiation of the intent of voters who kindly allowed needy medical users to toke, and who believed the well-heeled marijuana lobby when it promised “discretion” and “private use.” These people were never believable, and The Post is supporting them with columnists who advocate appeasement of the pot masses over the rule of law and the real will of the people to have modest and controlled, not public and law-breaking, marijuana freedom.

We don’t know which is more appalling: the city’s decision to allow a two-day pot event with the avowed purpose of breaking the law by openly smoking pot, or The Denver Post’s glorification of the event by proclaiming “Welcome to Weed Country” on the front page of its Easter Sunday edition. Pot promoters not only have a good friend in Mayor Michael Hancock, but now The Denver Post as well.

Tell us, Denver Post: As you watched the haze of smoke lifting over Civic Center and the not-so-glamorous crowd on local and national TV on Sunday, what message do you want to send our kids? What message are you sending to the business community and families who keep our tourist industry alive?

And Mayor Hancock: Were you proud of your city on Sunday? We were not.
Please spare us from this spectacle next year and quit promoting getting high.

Rod and Connie Smith, Denver

This letter was published in the April 27 edition.

Re: “Legal-pot jubilee,” April 18 Entertainment story.

The feature story in The Denver Post’s Entertainment section last Friday gave us the paper’s five favorite venues for the April 20 “pot jubilee.” It’s appalling that our state’s major newspaper would give Coloradans its opinion on the “five picks of the best” of such an event.

I suspect many of your Christian readers, such as me, will find it even more appalling that you endorse and promote such an event falling on Easter Sunday.

David Jones, Columbine Valley

This letter was published in the April 27 edition.

Denver should move the 4/20 celebration to Rocky Flats, with its vast open space and fencing. Security expenses and cleanup would be minimal.
Why does the city provide an area that is maintained as a park for relaxation and family enjoyment only to have to pay for security, cleanup and replacement of turf and shrubbery?

Mark Jankovich, Aurora

This letter was published in the April 27 edition.

Sunday, April 20, was the most celebrated day in Christendom. How was it covered in The Denver Post? Well, there’s a sliver on page 17. What was splashed on the front page? Weed day at the Civic Center.

Ever since The Post created a marijuana editor, we’ve had an abundance of articles on the weed revolution. Perhaps, for the rest of us, you might consider hiring a Christian editor, just, you know, to balance things out.

James McLay, Evergreen

This letter was published online only.

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When I take my road trips west, I normally go through Colorado. Not anymore. Since the legalization of marijuana, I am traveling via Wyoming or the southern route from now on. I really don’t want to take the chance of getting hit by someone who is high. If everyone does this, Colorado is going to take a hit with the tourist season ahead.

Colorado, I think you made a terrible mistake by legalizing marijuana.

Sandra Lab, Papillon, Neb.

This letter was published in the April 25 edition.

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